Wednesday, May 24, 2017

3 Ways to Add Punch to Your Story

In the boxing
ring of every story’s aim to receive five-star reviews and thousands of sales,
some novels emerge as winners, rightfully claiming a “golden glove” award in fiction.
We all want to be there and not just for one novel but every one we create.

We writers
analyze the hows and whys of bestsellers while incorporating new techniques
into our writing. So here’s my challenge—Slip into a pair of writer boxing
gloves. Get the adrenaline going and maybe a little caffeine. The following are
three of my favorite ways to move closer to a championship title.

1. Research the
psychology of your character.

We can never
learn enough about our character. Do you know your character’s life experiences
that affected who she is in chapter one, line one of your story? What is your
character’s darkest memory? What is feared? Loved? Despised? Treasured? Forbidden?
Love language? How does
your character’s temperament stop him from achieving her goals? What motivates
your character into reaching for his goal? The list goes on and on. A
professional writer is always exploring new ways to find the character’s secret
world.

2. Study the art
of dialogue.

Dialogue exposes
the character’s dreams, goals, needs, culture, education, faith, temperament,
and what matters most. Sometimes the character’s speech exposes hurts, flaws,
and weaknesses. Properly written dialogue mirrors how we talk and cuts the
extraneous stuff that makes us all sound like idiots. It’s fresh, intimate,
credible, moves the story along, and always builds tension.

3. Explore every
inch of the setting.

If setting is
not antagonistic, it serves little purpose to the story. Shove your character
into unknown territory. Let him think he’s safe then swing the stakes against
him. Use setting to force your character to adapt and grow into a better
person. Have the character suffer in the setting, learn new skills, sacrifice,
and then shape her personality by enhancing heroic qualities.

Don’t take off
those boxing gloves! Now’s not the time to throw in the towel.Let’s get to work and who knows, we might
meet on the bestseller’s list.

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne Du Maurier, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests. Firewall, the first book in her Houston: FBI series, was listed by Library Journal as one of the best Christian Fiction books of 2014.

DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, a member of Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Suspense Sister, and International Thriller Writers. She is co-director of The Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference and The Author Roadmap with social media specialist Edie Melson. She teaches writing workshops around the country.

4 comments:

Great post, DiAnn! I especially appreciated your insights on setting: "Use setting to force your character to adapt and grow into a better person. Have the character suffer in the setting....” Wonderful advice that I do my best to apply when I write. Thank you for always providing good advice to your fellow fiction writers!

Great analogy, thanks. Ironically, shortly after reading this, I was driving home and passed a church marquee that read: "Anyone who thinks they can count you out, can't count." I like thinking of your 3 ways to a championship as 3 distinct editing drafts of a WIP. That first draft being the training/prep. Then the focus of an entire draft could be on characters and their full development. The focus of another entire draft could be on dialogue. And the focus of another draft on setting: story and scenes. That now seems like a more effective plan to move from draft to draft, looking for everything along the way. Best wishes for a great conference. I have lots of friends there.